A BIRD of prey enthusiast who hoped to open a falconry centre in woodland near Farnham has been told he has until July to get off the land.

Paul Larkham, 37, had wanted to run an outdoor centre offering bird walks and falconry training, but his planning application has been turned down.

He and his partner Kathryn Holland, 28, moved to the site in Summerfield Road, Frensham, more three years ago and have been trying to get permission for the bird centre ever since.

But Waverley Borough Council said the centre was not suitable for such a rural location and would detract from the outlook of the area due to the aviaries, mobile home and storage containers on the site, a claim which Mr Larkham said was ‘completely ridiculous’.

He said he’s had a long-standing interest in birds of prey, adding: “I have always been an agricultural worker. Kathryn got me a place on a falconry course at Merrist Wood College for my birthday, and when the master falconer there left, I followed him out.

“I had the land and he had the knowledge, and it was going to be a joint thing, with him doing the teaching, as he’s more suited for that role and I would do the walks.”

The centre would have acted as a facility for abandoned or mistreated birds, but after many failed applications, beginning in 2009, their latest appeal was dismissed last Friday, meaning that the couple have six months to get rid of their business, their home and birds.

“The idea of living here is to look after the birds, some of which are worth a lot of money, about £6,000,” Mr Larkham said. “This was the only place we could keep the birds, and people were giving us birds all the time. The logical solution was to move on site, bring the birds on and do a retrospective planning application. It turned out to be the worst thing ever.”

The couple have seven birds of prey on site, including a barn owl called Florence, Zena the harris hawk and a great horned owl called Nanuck, and another 15 birds at centres around the south.

Their latest appeal against the council’s refusal was dismissed by the planning inspectorate after a site visit on January 9, and Mr Larkham is now required to pay the council’s legal costs.

“I don’t want benefits or anything from the state, I just want our own business to put money back into the economy and the council want to stop that,” he added.

In the decision notice, Simon Hand, the inspector, said there was no highway safety problem, but that he did not believe the falconry business needed a ‘specifically isolated rural location’ and would create ‘manifest harm’ to the character and appearance of the Farnham countryside.

“The appellant has now had some time to develop the business, although as he explained, until he gets planning permission it is difficult to begin the breeding process or market the training and hawk walks,” he said, adding that financial projections showed a healthy profit but he did not believe the business would ‘survive and prosper’.

Mr Hand agreed that the mobile home on site was necessary to guard the birds, saying: “Normally, security of a rural-based business is insufficient to warrant a home on the site as it is an argument that everyone with such a business could use. In this case however, the individual value of each bird is high.

“The theft of such small, high value and easily portable assets from the site would be quick, easy and tempting.”

The area was ‘sylvan and verdant’, he said, and had not appeared to have been irrevocably damaged by the bird centre’s presence, but added: “I accept that much of Waverley is covered by countryside protection designations but that does not mean there are no village or edge of town locations where such development would be much less out of keeping and intrusive.”

Now it falls to Mr Larkham to find a new home.

“I have got a business to get rid of, and I have to find somewhere else to live. They’re saying we need to pay their costs, making us close to bankrupt and now homeless,” he added.